50 Books Every Geek Should Read

“Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” Douglas Adams
A few geek culture infractions can be tolerated… Forget the name of that big waddling robot in Star Wars (it’s Gonk), and we’ll let that slide. Tell us you haven’t gotten to Snow Crash yet, and we may just confiscate your geek card for a while. But we’ve got to draw the line somewhere, so here it is: If you’ve never heard a line of Vogon poetry, heard tell of a substance that tastes “not quite entirely unlike tea,” or learned what number is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, I’m afraid we’ll have to destroy your geek card entirely.

Anyway, if you haven’t read Douglas Adams’ classic comic sci-fi series, don’t panic. Just do us these couple favors: First, don’t let anyone know that this happened. And second, grab yourself a copy of Hitchhiker’s immediately and start reading. If you can get through the first three chapters without laughing out loud at least twice, we’ll give you your money back.

“Ender’s Game,” Orson Scott Card
Every geek starts out as just a smart little kid. And Ender’s the smartest of them all. Faced with attack by an alien race, the nations of the earth draft the best and brightest children of a generation and send them to Battle School – an orbiting station where they fight zero-g laser tag battles and learn space combat and command while other kids are going to kindergarten.

Ender’s journey isn’t just about saving the world and learning military and leadership strategies. It’s also about growing up as a smart kid.

“The Time Machine,” H.G. Wells
Because you don’t get any more classic than the novel that coined the phrase “time machine.”